Multicentric Castleman''s disease in HIV infection: a clinical and pathological study of 20 patients

Techniques of transcatheter device placement for treatment of pediatric congenital heart disease have developed substantially since their introduction 20 years ago. Patent ductus arteriosus occlusion can be accomplished by umbrella deployment or coil placement. Intracardiac defects can be closed with umbrella or buttoned devices. Stenoses of vessels or conduits that are only temporarily relieved with balloon dilation can be effectively expanded with intravascular stents. Recent procedural modifications have been introduced in an attempt to minimize the size of the delivery sheath and reduce complications that can arise from device embolization. Transcatheter device placement can be an important adjunct to surgery for correction or palliation of congenital heart lesions.     

Influence of avocado oil processing on the nature of some unsaponifiable constituents

The unsaponifiable part of avocado pear oil, after heating during extraction and processing, contains an abundant fraction that has never been found in the unsaponifiable part of usual vegetable oils nor in cold-pressed avocado oil. Nine components were detected. Eight of them could be identified through chromatographic fractionations and spectroscopic analysis, mainly by mass spectrometry and proton nuclear magnetic resonance. These products are characterized by a homogeneous structure. A furyl nucleus is substituted in position 2 by an aliphatic, mono- or polyunsaturated chain. The chainlength varies from 13 to 17 carbon atoms. The carbon number is always odd. The significance of these components in the biological effects of avocado oil unsaponifiables is still being studied.     

Der Einfluß gesteigerter Stickstoffdüngung und Wasserversorgung auf Ertrag und Samenqualität von Lein (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Effect of Increased Nitrogen Fertilization and Water Supply on Yield and Quality of Linseed (Linum usitassimum L.) In a container experiment the linseed varieties “Raulinus” “Vitagold”, “Primo” and a “Steppenlein” from the assortment of the institute were tested in 3 N-steps at 3 different water doses each. The increase in N-fertilization from 0.2 to 1.0g/container resulted in an increased seed yield by about the threefold. The increase in water supply was also favourable for the yield. In both cases the increase resulted from an increase in capsule/plant. N-fertilization and water supply were widely contrary on the ingredients. Whereas the fat content and the degree of unsaturation of the oil were lowered by higher N-fertilization, an increase of fat content and of the amount of linoleic acid was released by an improved water supply. The protein content which was found to have a negative correlation to the fat content was stronger modified than that one. Therefore changes in the sum of fat and protein occurred.     

Recording from a Single Motor Unit During Strong Effort

During strong voluntary effort it is rarely possible to identify the action potentials from single motor units. In large muscles the most selective recordings are obtained with bipolar wire electrodes. To elucidate this experimental finding we have calculated the extracellular field around a single muscle fiber from an intracellular muscle action potential. This model showed that the selectivity of a bipolar electrode is high provided: i) the diameter of the recording surfaces is less than half the diameter of the muscle fibers; ii) the center distance between the recording surfaces is of the same order or smaller than the diameter of the muscle fibers, and when iii) the center-line between the recording surfaces is oriented perpendicular to the direction of the muscle fibers.     

Etude des copolymères acryliques utilisés dans l'encollage de fils de polyester. I. Caractéristiques physicochimiques des copolymères et leurs interactions avec des fils de polyester

Sizing is generally employed to protect yarns when submitted to mechanical stress during weaving. Two commercial acrylic copolymers used for sizing of polyester yarns are studied: an acrylonitril-acrylic acid copolymer (A) as a bad sizing product and an acrylonitril-acrylic acid-ethyl acrylate copolymer (B) as a good one. A relationship has been established between physico-chemical parameters and sizing efficiency. Interactions between polyester yarn and size (and samples used as models) are studied both in solution and in dry state. It must be pointed out that the action of water is basically due to its plasticizing properties. The presence of ethyl acrylate favorizes the polyester yarn impregnation with size B in aqueous solution. Adhesion in the dry state is mainly caused by acrylic acid. Finally the action of neutralizing agents and imbeding oils is discussed.     

Stochastic single-molecule videomicroscopy methods to measure electrophoretic DNA migration modalities in polymer solutions above and below entanglement

We have studied the effects of polymer molar mass and concentration on the electrophoretic migration modalities of individual molecules of DNA in LPA, HEC, and PEO solutions via epifluorescent videomicroscopy. While both transient entanglement coupling (TEC) and reptation have been studied in the past, the transition between them has not. Understanding this transition will allow for polymer network properties to be optimized to enhance the speed and resolution of DNA separations in microfluidic devices. Near the overlap threshold concentration, C*, TEC is the dominant observed mode of DNA migration, and the observation frequency of TEC increases with increasing polymer molar mass. As polymer concentration is increased, observed TEC events reduce to zero while DNA reptation events become the only detected mechanism. Individual DNA molecules undergoing both migration mechanisms were counted in solutions of varying polymer molar masses and concentrations and were plotted against a dimensionless polymer concentration, C/C*. The data for LPA reduce to form universal curves with a sharp increase in DNA reptation at approximately 6.5C*. Analogous transition concentrations for PEO and HEC were observed at 5C* and 3.5C*, respectively, reflecting the different physical properties of these polymers. This transition correlates closely with the polymer network entanglement concentration, Ce, as measured by rheological techniques. The electrophoretic mobility of lambda-DNA in LPA polymer solutions was also measured and shows how a balance can be struck between DNA resolution and separation speed by choosing the desired prevalence of DNA reptation.     

Toward the first nonpeptidic molecular tong inhibitor of wild-type and mutated HIV-1 protease dimerization

Herein we describe the synthesis and HIV-1 protease (PR) inhibitory activity of 16 new peptidomimetic molecular tongs with a naphthalene scaffold. Their peptidic character was progressively decreased. Two of these molecules exhibited the best dimerization inhibition activity toward HIV-1 wild-type and multimutated ANAM-11 proteases obtained to date for this class of molecules (～40?nM for wild-type PR and 100?nM for ANAM-11 PR). Although the peptidic character of one molecular tong was completely suppressed, the mechanism of inhibition and inhibitory potency toward both proteases were maintained.     

Crystal structures of high affinity human T-cell receptors bound to peptide major histocompatibility complex reveal native diagonal binding geometry

Naturally selected T-cell receptors (TCRs) are characterised by low binding affinities, typically in the range 1-100 microM. Crystal structures of syngeneic TCRs bound to peptide major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) antigens exhibit a conserved mode of binding characterised by a distinct diagonal binding geometry, with poor shape complementarity (SC) between receptor and ligand. Here, we report the structures of three in vitro affinity enhanced TCRs that recognise the pMHC tumour epitope NY-ESO(157-165) (SLLMWITQC). These crystal structures reveal that the docking mode for the high affinity TCRs is identical to that reported for the parental wild-type TCR, with only subtle changes in the mutated complementarity determining regions (CDRs) that form contacts with pMHC; both CDR2 and CDR3 mutations act synergistically to improve the overall affinity. Comparison of free and bound TCR structures for both wild-type and a CDR3 mutant reveal an induced fit mechanism arising from restructuring of CDR3 loops which allows better peptide binding. Overall, an increased interface area, improved SC and additional H-bonding interactions are observed, accounting for the increase in affinity. Most notably, there is a marked increase in the SC for the central methionine and tryptophan peptide motif over the native TCR.